Very early in modern history, people began marking time so that they could mark the change of the seasons, the ebb and flow of the tides, and, generally, the time of day. Such marking was done by way of the sun dial, which made use of the natural cyclic rotation of the Earth. Later, the sun dial was modified to take the form of a clock face, but retained the cyclical nature of the sun dial. Thus, with merely a glance, a user could appreciate where in course of the day he was, and could, thus, plan accordingly.
Beginning at least as early as the industrial revolution, time has been viewed as a valuable commodity, and society has strived for ever-increasing efficiency. As such, individuals find themselves monitoring, recording, and scheduling their time down to the minute in the hope of getting more done in the same amount of time. Planners, schedulers, and organizers of various kinds have been developed in an effort to meet the needs of people trying to increase their time efficiency.
Such tools, however, are linearly oriented, appealing to individuals taught, or naturally disposed, to think linearly. Such linear orientation of these planning and scheduling tools causes users thereof to lose sight of the cyclical nature of time, and thus, lose perspective of their day. Users, thus, tend to over-plan, and become frustrated when they are unable to accomplish the tasks they have scheduled for the work day, such as from 8 AM to 6 PM, a representative block of time presented in planning tools.
Additionally, such planning tools are principally focused upon the day time hours, leaving evening/night time hours underrepresented, understated, or completely omitted. Planning tools for post-business hour activities, such as family time, personal business activities, post-work day professional business activities, organizational time, homework time, commute time, personal development time, interpersonal time, and the like, are virtually non-existent, often leaving such activities to chance occurrence and/or disorder.
Similarly, for those who may work late into the evening hours or at night, a planning system to eloquently address their needs is virtually non-existent.
Further, the teaching and learning of time, time planning, time-based organizational skills, and the like, may be difficult, especially with very young children and persons with certain kinds of mental, conceptual, or learning disabilities. There does not appear to be a teaching method and system that adequately and conveniently addresses teaching and understanding of the cyclical nature of time, from hour-to-hour, daytime-to-nighttime, day-to-day, and the like. Nor does there appear to be a teaching method and system that adequately, conveniently, and holistically addresses the concepts of time planning and organization according to a cyclically-based, rather than a linearly-based, arrangement.
Thus, there is a clear need for an organizational and teaching tool, system, and method that provides a user thereof with a more complete view of his or her time, that allows the user to see and understand an entire day's worth of time, and all of the activities planned for that day, and that is conveniently extensible into greater or lesser increments of time.